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Book Review: The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing

Welcome our first book review! The goal of these book reviews is to help you decide if buying (or maybe borrowing) a book is worth your time and/or money.

I was surfing on Amazon a few weeks ago when I came across this book: The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing (affiliate link). It caught my eye because it’s specifically geared towards helping small businesses increase their reach (and therefore income) using Facebook.

Most people are perfectly aware that having a Facebook presence for your acupuncture office is a must as part of your acupuncture marketing strategy. But maybe you’re not using it to its full capacity.

You probably have the basics covered – a business page with a few pictures of your office and posts that cater to the followers you already have. You have a Facebook presence in case anyone is looking for you, at least. However, maybe you’re not actively looking for new Likes or new potential patients.

BUT the beauty of Facebook is that it’s free, so there’s no reason not to capitalize on the incredible reach that it has. The sheer numbers are staggering.

This book covers a broad spectrum of levels of experience with Facebook. Whether you’re new to Facebook (is there anyone left who’s new to Facebook?) or you’re very comfortable with it, this book has something for you. I generally feel pretty comfy with Facebook, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by the number of things I learned from this book. It’s also glossy, full-color, and just generally an easy read because of all the pictures and real-life examples.

So if you’re a beginner… this book provides easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on all the basics, with pictures, like how to:

Set up a business page

Tag people

Set up events

The difference between Groups and Pages

If you’re a Facebook pro… this book gives instructions on advanced Facebook topics, such as how to:

Set up contests and polls

Set up a local check-in to bring more people to your physical location

Allowing your personality to show through in your social media “voice”

Something important to keep in mind with this book, and a reason you may want to borrow it from the library first to decide if you want to buy it, is that it was released in 2011.

As we all know, everything on the internet is changing on a regular basis, especially Facebook. After going through this book, I do feel like most things are still the same on Facebook, or similar enough that you can figure them out. How long will this last? Well, that’s the rub. You never know.

I mentioned that this book has a few concepts that I was pleasantly surprised to learn about, so here they are:

The idea of using Facebook as a platform to get real media exposure in your community. Aka, generating interest or “buzz” around your business, then creating relationships with people who can help you get articles, press releases, even interviews.

The use of local check-ins to bring new potential patients to your physical location. I know I mentioned this one already, but A) I had no idea how to set them up before reading this and B) it’s a fantastic idea! Maybe one of the most valuable things this books has to offer is the detailed information about creating check-ins and coupons to entice people to your location.

Okay, so should you invest in this book? Well, I’ll say that I’m glad I bought it. I snagged it used on Amazon and it was really reasonable. I plan to use it both for promoting MichelleGrasek.com as well as those exciting times when I get to post to the Finger Lakes School of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Facebook page. As with any book about the internet, keep in mind that it may remain accurate for only a limited amount of time. But if you’re interested in making a more concerted effort with your Facebook marketing, this book is a great place to start. Is has tons of relevant information, all in one place.

How do you feel about Facebook marketing? Do you make a consistent effort with Facebook to reach new people, or only use it occasionally?

Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming post on how to make Facebook especially useful for acupuncturists, coming soon!

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I found your review to be helpful in moving beyond the basics of Facebook for marketing. There is always more out there, but sometimes we just don’t know where to look. Thanks for sharing your research. Mary